CD Reviews

The pinnacle of noise

L. Holcombe | TX, US | 09/19/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"1991 was a pretty darn good year for music. Nirvana, Bikini Kill, Smashing Pumpkins, and even Garth Brooks all released incredible albums that would forever change the face of rock music. Very quietly, when no one was watching, Daisy Chainsaw released an album that busted them all right in the mouth.

The 5-song EP "Lovesick Pleasure" managed to be heavier than Metallica and lighter than Billy Joel, often both in the same song. I guess the best way to describe it is "art school rock". The guitar's like a blender, the bass is like a lawnmower, the drums are like a trash can, and the singer sounds like she's having an orgasm and an argument simultaneously. Sometimes it gets Sonic-Youth-noisy, with the squeals and squelches, but never at the expense of the song. And the production actually has a personality - very lo-fi but still loud and well-mixed, unlike most of the industry's million-dollar polish jobs. Daisy Chainsaw turns out to be one of the most sonically apt band names ever.

The first 2 songs, "Love Your Money" and "Pink Flower" are on Daisy Chainsaw's full-length album "Eleventeen". But the last 3 are collector's items that you can only find here. "Sick of Sex" just might be the original riot grrl influence - singer Katie Garside can sound downright angry when she wants to. And then when she wants to be softer and poppier, she can do that too, like on the 4th track, "All the Kids Agree". The final track, "Room Eleven", clocking in at over 7 minutes, however, is the killer. The first 2.5 minutes are the same riff over and over again with Katie chanting along, and it's so heavy that White Zombie might get embarassed. Just before that starts to get boring, the music nosedives into headtrip land. The guitar sounds like it is being de-tuned as it plays, and occasionally even drops out altogether. Katie's breathy chanting now sounds like a theme, punctuated by blood-curdling screams, and the rest of the band kinda gets lost in a headbanging jam session. And then the finale, a haunting part where Katie sounds like a little girl talking to herself. The song is highly structured, but you have to listen to it a few times to actually figure out what that structure is. All the instruments, including the vocals (which are unfortunately unintelligible), have their place, and it's all arranged to magnificent effect. It's the kind of semi-organized noise that makes me remember why music is an artform.

Unfortunately, the influential musical releases of that year kinda overshadowed this debut, and destroyed what should have been a swift rise to eternal cult glory. Of course Daisy Chainsaw produced two wonderful albums in 1992 and 1994, but neither could match their razor-edged debut. I bought this disc in mid-'91, and I just can't seem to get tired of it. Every couple years, I do a CD-housecleaning, selling off everything I don't listen to anymore. And somehow, "Lovesick Pleasure" always makes the cut - every time I hear it, it sounds fresh and new. If you like edgy, arty, heavy, and/or noisy music, buy this album."